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Endangered Species in Santa Cruz County - Invertebrates

Zayante Band-winged Grasshopper

The Zayante Band-winged Grasshopper is a smaller species of grasshopper, typically brownish-grey with bluish hind legs. When in flight, pale yellow hind wings are exposed.

Adults are primarily active between May and August. They are found only in the sandy areas of the Santa Cruz Mountains known as the Zayante sand hills. Habitat is open sparsely vegetated sandy parklands among chapparral or ponderosa pine stands on the Zayante sand hills. They share this habitat with several other threatened or potentially threatened organisms including the Mount Hermon June beetle, the Santa Cruz rain beetle, Santa Cruz cypress, and Silverleaf manzanita.

The primary threats to the Zayante sand hills have been sand mining and urban development. At the time of listing it was estimated that 60% of the sand hills habitat had been disturbed. Of the remaining habitable area, nearly two-thirds is unprotected (i.e. privately owned) and much is subject to continued mining.

To Learn More:

NatureServe ExplorerEnter species name in the search box to receive a detailed description of habitat, behavior, food, current conservation statues, ecological and distribution data, with citations to relevant management reports.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife ServiceDocuments describing protection for the species under the Endangered Species Act. General information about the species as well as plans to protect it and assist in its recovery.

Species AccountExcerpts from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service documents available at the Central Branch Library